


Somnolent

by unluckyrose



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Other, cute ghost, hahaha what am i even doing, i'm mostly writing this cause i was annoyed with the lack of napstasans on this site, mostly napstasans, papyton's in the background but will be there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-05-21 15:02:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6056011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unluckyrose/pseuds/unluckyrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans is being haunted. He's okay with it, though. In fact, he's made it his mission to befriend this poor ghost who seems to be terrified of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tbh I wrote this because I was annoyed with the lack of attention this honestly adorable ship gets. There's no way I can do it justice, but I can sure try.

 

Something amazing and unbelievable had happened that morning; Sans had shown up for work, not only on time, but _early_. Papyrus had been shocked and proud. The skeleton leaned back against his sentry station and sipped his coffee. Normally he didn't bother with any sort of caffeine, something made obvious by his habit of falling asleep everywhere, but today was special. He had a _mission_.

He flopped down on the snow in front of his station and waited. His eyes were drawn to the large door at the end of the path. His friend probably wouldn't be there this early. Though a nice chat and some bad jokes would help keep him awake as he waited.

No, he wasn't really doing his job. His job was to watch out for humans, but he couldn't care less about that right now. Right now, he was much more interested in catching his stalker. Okay, stalker might be too harsh of a term. They were more of a casual eavesdropper. Not that he minded; he doubted they had any malicious intent.

His eavesdropper had first shown up about a week ago. He had been waiting by the door for his bad-joke-buddy at the usual time. He had thought of the perfect joke to lead with and was repeating it over and over in his head while he listened for the telltale thuds of his friend's footsteps on the other side. His skull clunked against the door as he leaned back and stared down the snowy path ahead.

Suddenly, a faint smell filled his nasal cavity. He blinked and looked around for the source. _ectoplasm?_ He thought. It wasn't that unusual; ghosts would come and go from the ruins. At least, he heard they did. He never saw them, but the woman told him ghosts used to visit the ruins all the time(although there used to be a lot more, she only sees one or two around now). Curious, he asked, “anyone there?”

All he heard in response was a quiet, “eep!” and a small gust of wind as the invisible ghost flew by him and right into the ruins door.

“...alright then.” Sans raised an non-existent eyebrow, but quickly put the odd moment aside as he heard the footsteps of the woman on the other side of the door.

The next time he had seen the ghost was two days later. Well, to be fair he hadn't seen the ghost the first time, but still. He was exchanging jokes with the woman in the ruins when he had smelled ectoplasm again. He ignored it; the ghost was probably just passing by. He tapped on the door. “knock knock.”

“Who is there?” The woman asked.

“isabelle.”

“Isabelle who?”

“isabelle working, or should i keep knocking?”

Laughter filled the air, and it took a second for him to realize not all of it was from behind the door. He flipped around to find a small, white ghost floating in the air behind him. Their eyes were closed and they shook with quiet giggles. “ehehehehehe...”

Well, he had to admit it, they were _adorable_. That was probably the cutest laugh he'd ever heard. They hadn't noticed him looking, and he wasn't able to say anything before the woman started her next joke.

“Knock knock.”

“who's there?”

“Ach.”

“ach who?”

“Bless you, are you coming down with a cold?” Sans chuckled in response, but was distracted by the doubled quiet laughter that came from the ghost. His permanent grin widened a bit and he tapped on the door again.

“knock knock.”

“Who is there?”

“to.”

“To who?”

“no, it's 'to whom'. it's basic grammar.” For a third time, the ghost's giggles filled the air. They still hadn't noticed he was looking right at them. He decided it was time they did. He adopted the friendliest tone he could manage and said, “hey, buddy, you just here to listen or are you gonna contribute a joke of your own?”

The ghost's face sudden morphed from amusement to terror as they realized he was talking to them. They softly, 'eep!'d again before fading away. “oh... i'm sorry... I didn't mean to intrude...”

“wait, you-” he started, but the ghost was already gone. Oops.

The next day, pretty much the same thing had happened. He made jokes, the ghost giggled, he called attention to himself, the ghost apologized and left. The day after, he didn't say anything and just let the ghost enjoy the jokes. He had planned on continuing like this and just letting the ghost be, since they were clearly afraid of him, but his curiosity was too strong. So, finally, he'd asked the woman in the ruins about the ghost.

“Oh, I've never talked to them, but I have seen them,” she'd told him, “I've seen them arrive late in the afternoon and leave early in the morning. The froggits say they never talk to anyone here.”

And that's how he ended up sitting in front of his sentry station at way-too-early-o'clock, waiting for his eavesdropper. He intended to at _least_ get a name out of them, if they were going to be hanging around and listening in on his jokes. He sipped his coffee as his lack-of-eyelids drooped. This better be worth all this suffering.

He pictured the ghost in his head, giggling at his stupid knock-knock joke.

Yeah, it'll probably be worth it. Besides, he could always use more of an audience for his bad jokes. And he had a feeling the ghost could use a friend, if they spent all their time invisible and running away the second someone tried to talk to them.

He was suddenly wide awake as he smell the faint odor of ectoplasm again. He looked up to see the small ghost drifting down the path. Their eyes were distant and they were humming some song Sans thought he'd heard somewhere before. They seemed to be absorbed in their thoughts and didn't notice him as they drifted closer.

_alright sans, try not to scare them this time._ The skeleton thought, pushing himself to his feet. “hey, there's my favorite eavesdropper.” The ghost stopped, eyes suddenly snapping to him. They let out a startled squeak and started to fade away. _good job, sans, you're a genius,_ he thought. Quickly, he held up a hand. “wait, come back!”

Slowly the ghost faded back into visibility. “I-i'm sorry... I didn't mean to eavesdrop... oh no, you probably think i'm really creepy...”

“nah, i'm just wondering why you didn't come say hi. i'm always willing to share some bad jokes.” Sans hopped up onto the counter of his sentry station, faking casual. _ah-ha, i've actually got them._

“Oh... you don't want to talk to me... i'm no good with jokes...”

“if i didn't want to talk to you i wouldn't be.” Sans stifled a yawn. Damn his own lack of energy.

“oh, am I keeping you from sleep?”

“i'm always tired.” Sans shrugged. “i should change my name to 'tired'.”

“um... what _is_ your name? … if you want to tell me.” The ghost looked even more anxious.

Sans winked. “the name's sans. and you?”

“i'm napstablook....” There was a short silence before the ghost floated backwards a bit. “i should go... you're probably busy.”

“i'm not- aaand you're gone.” Sans sighed as the ghost, with alarming speed, darted down the path back in the direction of Snowdin. _well, that was weird. at least i got their name now._ He pushed his now cold coffee to the side and laid across the counter of his sentry station, eye sockets already drifting shut. He hoped he didn't scare them off forever. Napstablook seemed kinda terrified of him. Seems impossible to befriend.

 

_Challenge accepted._

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Napstablook is too relatable and accidentally breaks things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter took longer than expected. I got really busy last week and just had no free time at all.  
> In other news, my document editing program doesn't like dialogue written in all lowercase or they/them pronouns, so that's been fun to deal with. I have to switch to one that doesn't automatically change what it thinks are grammar mistakes.  
> Anyway, enjoy more awkward ghost/skell fic!

The challenge was turning out to be, well, challenging. There were a couple issues with Sans’ plan. The first and biggest issue was that he didn’t have one. He had no idea how to even start talking to Napstablook without scaring them again. Clearly no matter what he said, the ghost would take off as soon as possible. Sans was a pretty sociable guy and was pretty good at reading people, but that didn’t mean he had any idea where to start getting the shy ghost to calm down enough to have a regular conversation with.

The other big issue was that Napstablook hadn’t shown up at the sentry station or the ruins door in days. Sans had actually started showing up there early and staying there after his shift ended (Papyrus was still confused but proud), but he hadn’t seen or heard the ghost at all. Today was the fifth day since he had seen Napstablook, and after his shift ended and it was clear they weren’t passing by that day, the skeleton sighed and headed back in the direction of Snowdin town.

            Sans couldn’t help feel disappointed. He hadn’t gotten anything from Napstablook aside from their name, so he had no clue where to find them if they never came back. His mission to befriend the ghost may be harder then he’d first thought if they weren’t going to hang around his sentry station anymore. He had a habit of abandoning things as soon as they got hard, or really required any effort at all. Not that he wanted to abandon this mission. In fact, he was surprised that didn’t want to give up yet.

            He just didn’t know where to go from here. He could keep waiting for Napstablook to show up again, but he had the horrible feeling he’d scared them away and they wouldn’t come by on their own. He could ask around, but if they were as shy with everyone else as they were him he doubted many knew them.

            Sans sighed and stuck his hands back in his pockets. He should really give Napstablook another day or so before he goes looking for them. It’d be the start to a really weird friendship if he stalked them to their home or something. Though it would be a bit of payback for the stalking on the ghost’s part.

            Yeah, that’s what he’d do. He’d just wait a few more days and if the ghost still didn’t show up he’d start looking. Didn’t want to be creepy or anything. In the meantime, he really shouldn’t neglect his other sentry posts in Waterfall and Hotland.

 

            Napstablook was never going to the ruins again.

            They couldn’t believe they’d made such a fool of themself. They hadn’t known what to say, they had probably been horribly rude by accident… This is why they’d avoided talking to Sans earlier, they just knew something like this would happen! Sans would probably be happy to never see them again. Sure, he had started the conversation, but he was just being polite… or didn’t realize how boring it was to talk to them. That they were just an awkward, uninteresting monster.

            Yes, it was easier to just avoid the skeleton from now on. Napstablook would have to find somewhere else to hang out, or another place to enter the ruins. Except they couldn’t just faze through the thicker walls and the door was the only way into the ruins that they knew of. Now their social skills (or lack thereof) might have cost them their favorite hangout spot…

            With a quiet sigh, they turned the volume dial on their cd player and the tune drifting through their headphones drowned out the surrounding noises. They were drifting through a mostly deserted area of Waterfall, and had so far been lucky enough not to run into anyone. They just weren’t in the mood to try and come up anything to say to friendly strangers today. Why did talking to people have to be so hard?

            Napstablook might have approached Sans on their own if they weren’t, well, Napstablook. They had noticed him lounging at his sentry station outside the ruins every time they had passed by, but hadn’t thought much of him aside from, ‘is he always sleeping on the job?’. It was only recently that they’d found out anything about him.

            When they had heard him and the boss monster lady exchanging puns, they had known it wasn’t right to eavesdrop but they couldn’t help it. The jokes were so bad, but so funny! Of course, Napstablook’s sense of humor had always been… questionable. They always had trouble even recognizing a joke when a stranger told it, and they were no good at telling them themself. Sure, they used to get a polite chuckle out of Happsta, but overall humor was never Napstablook’s forte.

            But listening to jokes? Napstablook always thought other people’s jokes were hilarious. Or at least better than their own. And when they heard Sans tell jokes, they felt for a second like the imaginary storm cloud over their head had lifted. Something about the way he told them, talking casually as if it wasn’t even a joke at first before suddenly adopting the most purposefully cheesy tone for the punchline, made him so much funnier than any comedian they’d ever seen. He would wave his arms around to emphasize what he was saying, even though the woman on the other side couldn’t see him. His voice was always so relaxed and he talked so evenly, as if the jokes all just came to him easily. Napstablook had known they shouldn’t eavesdrop, but they just couldn’t help it. Sans was… really cool.

            They had watched him for a few days before he noticed them. They must have gotten closer than usual, or Sans had just been paying more attention that day, or something, but the skeleton had looked up and asked if anyone was here. Napstablook, always the smooth and quick thinking monster, had panicked and flown away immediately. But not even being caught had stopped them from listening in the next time, or the time after that.

            _Talk to him, tell him one of your jokes. Maybe he’ll think you’re funny, maybe he’ll be nice, maybe he’ll be your friend,_ Napstablook had thought. However, a much louder voice in their head was saying, _don’t bother, you’ll just mess it up. he’ll hate you. you’re no good at telling jokes, especially compared to him. he probably has tons of friends, no time for someone like you .you’d just weigh him down._

            And so they hadn’t talked to him. Until he’d talked to them. Napstablook groaned and covered their face with their short arms. If they had just had some warning, maybe they would have had something to say. It wouldn’t have been so awkward. Sans would’ve thought they were cool too. But now their nervousness had failed them, and they’d lost any chance of befriending the skeleton. At least they could try and forget what happened, and if they found a new place to hangout they would never have to confront Sans again.

            “hey, it’s you!”

            The voice, just barely heard over the song in their headphones, shocked the ghost so much they dropped their cd player. Before they could catch it, the headphone cord snapped out of player and it fell to the ground, music cutting off suddenly as it cracked on the rocks below. Sans was standing there, one hand out of his pocket and in the air just a second too slow to catch it. The skeleton scooped up the damaged cd player and pressed a few buttons experimentally. Nothing happened. “woah, i’m sorry, i didn’t mean-“ he apologized.

            “No, no, it’s alright, i have more cd players, it was my fault anyway,” Napstablook said quickly. They floated down to the skeleton’s height to take a better look at the broken player. They had definitely heard a crack, but there was no damage visible so one of the inside pieces must have snapped. At least the cd was unharmed. They were more upset by whatever cruel coincidence had caused them to run into the skeleton unprepared again. So much for avoiding him. "wh-what are you doing here? i mean… not that i’m not happy to see you…”

            Sans shrugged. “i’m just walking around, not working. i have a sentry station around here and i should probably at least show up to work.”

            “you have another sentry station?”

            Sans nodded, “yep, a couple in hotland too. what, never seen a guy with multiple jobs before?”

            “no, I’ve just never seen you around Waterfall before.”

            “eh, i don’t work very hard, and i usually just skip my waterfall shift since Undyne’s pretty much got the whole place covered herself.” There was an awkward moment of silence where Napstablook wasn’t sure what to say and Sans was focusing on the cd player. The skeleton was tilting it back and forth and shaking it a little, examining it from every angle. They wondered why.

            “um… you know Undyne?” the ghost asked.

            “yep. I’m a sentry, so she’s my boss. also she and my brother are friends. why, do you know her?”

            Napstablook remembered having to fly away very quickly from the fish woman, who had been yelling something about wrestling to cheer them up. “she’s my neighbor. She’s… um… kinda loud? And violent. She scares me.”

            Sans chuckled. It was a deep but quiet laugh, and upon hearing it some of Napstablook’s anxiety lifted. Sans was a relaxing guy to be around. “yep, sounds like her.” And just a second after that, they heard familiar female shouting and the clinking of someone running in armor. “oops, speak of the devil. i guess she realized i’m not at my post again.”

            Oh no. Napstablook could _not_ deal with Undyne today. Especially not if she was angry. Quickly, they turned invisible and fazed through a wall into another section of caves and raced back towards their home, leaving before their scary neighbor could appear. It wasn’t until they were safely home that they realized they’d left Sans to be yelled at by his boss without even saying goodbye. _oh, that was so rude!_ They thought, _that conversation wasn’t even going so badly until i ran away… why does he keep trying to talk to me? all I do is mess things up…_

            And they didn’t even realize until that night that Sans still had their broken cd player and the cd inside it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I just really wanted to thank everyone who left kudos and comments! ^^ You're the best


	3. Chapter 3

            Great. Napstablook was gone again. Sans turned to face Undyne as she stormed into the cavern, in full armor and steaming mad. “SANS, WHY AREN’T YOU AT YOUR POST? THIS IS, LIKE, THE EIGHTH TIME THIS WEEK!”

            Sans waited until the fish woman had stopped right in front of him and yanked off her helmet to respond. “i’m on break.”

            “You’re always on break!” Undyne huffed.

            “if i’m always on break, how do you expect me to be at my post?” He ignored her angry response and instead inspected the wall Napstablook had disappeared through. They could have gone anywhere. Dammit, he had finally found them again!  

            “…What’s with that look on your face anyway? And what are you holding?” Undyne asked, her pissed tone switching to a slightly-less-pissed-off-now-curious tone. Sans blinked. He must have been showing some of his frustration and disappointment on his face. He was usually better at hiding his mood.

            “you scared off my conversational partner,” he said. Then he processed the second half of her question and looked down at his hands. Oh. “oh, they left their cd player. oops.”

            “Whatever, talk to them when you’re not supposed to be doing your job!”

            “easier said than done. they kept flying off.” Sans shook the cd player slightly. He heard a soft scraping, but it didn’t sound like any small pieces had broken off inside. Hmm.

            “Who?” Undyne looked around the area, like she expected to see the monster Sans was talking about hanging around.

            “napstablook. this ghost i ran into.” He flipped the cd player over and looked at the underside. It was made of sort of plastic and held together with tiny screws. He could probably get it open if…

            “Wait, you know Napstablook?” Undyne completely dropped her anger and Sans looked up from the cd player.

            “sort of, do you?”

            “They’re my neighbor, they live in that white house near mine,” she explained, waving a hand over her shoulder in the direction of her own house. “Wow. I feel kinda bad for scaring them off now. I never see them talking to anyone.”

            She had Sans’ full attention now. Someone actually knew Napstablook! This was a huge breakthrough. “yeah, i got that impression. seemed kinda scared of me.”

            Undyne laughed a little, and it echoed around the quiet caves. “That’s them alright. They’re terrified of me! … Which is something I’m not. Um. Proud of… I don’t know how you even got them to talk to you.”

            “they were fine with me when I actually got them talking. well, i think they were.” Sans waved the cd player, “conversation didn’t start well. their player broke.”

            Undyne raised an eyebrow. “What, your icebreaker was destroying their property?”          

            “i obviously did it on purpose, because i go around breaking people’s stuff for no reason.” Sans shrugged, “oh well, now i know where they live i’m sure i can run into them again. Seemed like they needed someone to talk to, so i might as well start a chat that doesn’t involve breaking things.”

            “You better!” Undyne suddenly got very loud again, and very close. She loomed over him, using her ridiculous height to look even more intimidating. Or at least it was ridiculous height compared to the very short skeleton. Sans almost jumped backwards in surprise. “I’ve been trying to cheer up Napstablook forever, so if you can talk to them, I ORDER you to befriend them and make them happy!”

            “woah, ok.” Sans stepped backwards, careful not to fall into a puddle or drop the cd player. It didn’t need to be broken any more. “but i’m pretty sure you can’t _order_ me to befriend anyone.”

            “I can order you to do anything. I’m your boss AND I’m stronger than you.

            “sentries need a union.”

            “No you don’t, I’m an amazing and fair boss!”

Sans glanced down at the cd player in his hands again. “but don’t worry, i was planning on cheering them up anyway. and i have an idea on how to _lift their spirits_.”

            The sound of Undyne’s facepalm echoed off the walls.

            Sans chuckled, then turned and headed off in a random direction. “i just gotta head back home for a bit and-“ Before he could shortcut, he felt a hand grip him by the hood and start dragging him backwards.

            “No you don’t!” Undyne shouted, full anger restored. “You’re going back to your station until the end of your shift! Don’t think this means you can just skip out on work again!”

            Sans inwardly sighed.

 

 

            Hours later, the skeleton finally got home. He didn’t bother walking through any doors, but instead shortcutted right to the room he needed; his workshop.

Wow, he hadn’t been in here for a long time. It was pointless; there wasn’t anything in here he needed most of the time. He threw one sad glance at the tarp-covered machine in the corner before turning to the counter. He wanted out of here quickly; this room had a heavy air and the kind of silence that makes you question every decision you ever made.

The silence of the room was made more obvious when he set the cd player on the counter and began loudly rooting through the drawers. One of them was full of different tools, all of them clattering metallically as he sifted through them. He pulled out a screwdriver, just the right size, and began disassembling the player. He carefully set aside the cd that had been in it, then took a look at the inner workings. It looked like an inner piece had cracked, but the rest was fine. Perfectly fixable, maybe with a trip to the dump to see if he could find any whole pieces.

A loud yawn stopped him from getting to work on it right now; he might fall asleep in here. It was best not to sleep in his workshop, Papyrus’d probably worry if Sans was missing all night. He didn’t know the workshop was even there. No one but Sans did.

There was a lot that no one but Sans knew about.

The thought made his soul feel cold and the tiredness in his bones almost overwhelming. He’d fix the player in the morning.

He was about to shortcut right into his bed when he spotted the cd on the counter. It was completely gray with something written in sharpie across the front. The writing seemed to be a list of song names, all with ‘remix’ at the end. He wondered if Napstablook had made it themself. It wouldn’t hurt to give it a listen before passing out for the night.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't like how this chapter came out, I just couldn't get it written. OTL Anyway, I hope I wrote Undyne well enough.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus is excited about a marathon and spaghetti and Napsta is finally reunited with their cd player

              Somehow, Sans had managed to feel even worse the next morning. He groaned and rubbed the spot on his skull where a headache was forming. He hadn’t slept very well at all. Last night, he’d played the music on his laptop. The music was great; he’d recognized the melody as something he’d heard playing in Hotland before and wondered if anyone else listened to Napstablook’s music. The rest of the tracks on the cd were random spooky songs and remixes of MTT songs. It was all very good, and before he knew it Sans had stayed up so late it was the middle of the night.

               When it was this late, he tended to get too lost in his thoughts to sleep. Instead of confronting his thoughts and dealing with the mess that was his mind, he’d gone to the dump to find the pieces he needed to fix the cd player. It took him an hour or two to fix it, and then he had no choice but to lay in his bed and try to fall asleep.

              Long story short, it wasn’t a very sound sleep and now he was tired and had a headache. A glance at the clock told him it was nearly noon. As much as he wanted to burrow under the blankets and sleep for the rest of the day, Papyrus would probably get suspicious. Besides, he could return Napstablook’s cd player today. Maybe hanging out with the ghost would cheer him up.

              He heard the telltale pounding footsteps of his brother running up the stairs. “SANS, ARE YOU GETTING UP SOMETIME TODAY?”

              “yeah, just gimmie a minute.” Sans rolled out of bed and landed face-first on his floor. He resisted the urge to stay there and stood up, heading out into the rest of the house.

            “THERE YOU ARE.” Papyrus looked up at him from the first floor, hands on hips. “I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD GET UP EARLY AGAIN. I THOUGHT YOU’D LEARNED SOME RESPONSIBILITY!”

            “heh, you know me. there isn’t a responsible bone in my body,” Sans answered. He stumbled down the stairs and yawned loudly. He proceeded to the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat for breakfast. Or technically lunch, since it wasn’t really morning anymore. While he scoured the fridge, which was still empty aside from all the inedible spaghetti attempts, Papyrus rushed around and ranted to him.

            “…AND I HAVE TRAINING WITH UNDYNE TODAY, BUT SHE GAVE ME TOMORROW OFF SO I CAN WATCH THE MTT MARATHON.”

            “uh huh?”

            “IT’S GOING TO BE GREAT! HOURS AND HOURS OF JUST METTATON!”

            “isn’t he all that’s on tv anyway?”

            “YES, BUT NOW HE’S CALLING IT A MARATHON. SO, IT’LL BE MORE INTERESTING. I GUESS. YES.”

            Sans internally sighed as he gave up the hope that food would magically appear in the fridge. He kicked the door closed, slipped his hands in his pockets, and turned to face his brother. “you going to make some sort of special spaghetti for the occasion?”

            “OF COURSE!” Papyrus moved his feet and raised his hand to his chest proudly, striking a pose. “UNDYNE AND I HAVE CREATED THE RECIPE FOR THE PERFECT SPAGHETTI TO CELEBRATE THE OCCASION! I CALL IT SUPER-PERFECT-AWESOME-MAGNIFICENT-GLITTER-SPAGHETTI, OR ‘SPAMGS’. WE ARE COOKING IT TODAY FOR TRAINING.”

            “sounds ‘spamazings’.” _wow, that was a stretch. i’m off my game._

            Papyrus must have recognized the pun as a failure and didn’t react to it. “IT IS GREAT, SO GREAT THE RECIPE CANNOT BE SPOKEN. YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO SEE TOMORROW.”

            “looking forward to it.” Sans stepped around his brother and headed for the door. “i’m heading to grillby’s for some grub, want anything?”

            “EW. NEVER.” Papyrus crossed his arms.

            “k, see ya, bro.” Sans waved one hand over his shoulder and swung the door open, letting a burst of cold Snowdin air into the house.

            Behind him, Papyrus frowned. Then he shook his head, as if dismissing a thought. “JUST PROMISE YOU WON’T SPEND THE WHOLE DAY SLEEPING, BROTHER!”

            “i don’t make promises.” And with that the smaller skeleton was gone.

 

 

            Later that day, Sans stood in front of two symmetrical houses in Waterfall. The one on the left was white and the one on the right was reddish-pink. He guessed the house on the left was Napstablook’s, partly because he could see the light on in the window and hear muffled spooky music drifting through the door. He glanced at the other house. It had an eerie feeling-not just because it was a ghost’s house. The light was off inside and it had an abandoned air around it, like no one had been inside in a long time.

            He clutched the fixed cd player in his hands and stopped in front of Napstablook’s door. Well, no time like the present. He knocked on the door and tried to look relaxed.

            Inside, the music came to a halt. He heard no more noise for about a minute and he was about to knock again when the door opened. The ghost blinked in surprise, hovering just inside the doorway. “…sans? uh, hi.”

            Sans held out the cd player. “ya ran off without your player. thought i’d fix it and return it.”

            Napstablook took the player and stared at it. Then they looked back at Sans. “you fixed it for me? t-thank you, you really didn’t have to…”

            “no problem, it was kinda my fault it broke anyway.” Sans shrugged. “also, hope you don’t mind, but i listened to the cd inside it. did you remix those yourself?”

            Napstablook gave a small, nervous smile. “yes, I did. Did you like them?”

            “’course, they were boo-tiful.”

            The ghost giggled and their eyes were so happy they might have had little anime stars in them. It was so cute Sans thought he could feel his soul glowing brighter. “R-really? You really like them? They’re not that good…”

            “yes, really, they’re great,” he assured them.

            “Do…do you want to come in and listen to more? I have a lot more.” They pushed the door open wider.

            “sure thing.” Sans stepped past the ghost and into the house. It was smaller than it looked. There was nothing but a small room with a tv, a computer desk, a fridge, and some scattered music players on the floor. There wasn’t a chair or a table anywhere. He shrugged and made himself comfortable on the floor.

            Napstablook floated over to the computer and clicked something. “Let’s listen to this one first... it’s a remix of Spookwave.”

            The song drifted out of surprisingly good quality speakers and seemed to consume the whole room. It was another spooky song, only with an oddly ethereal tone to it. It was like something you would hear in a haunted house crossed with harp music. He liked it. He flopped backwards and laid on his back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Napstablook floated down and settled on the floor next to him.

            “I like to lay on the floor. It’s a family tradition,” They explained.

            “…is that why you don’t have any chairs?”

            “Yes. I like being on the floor more.”

            “heh, can’t argue with that.”

            The both of them continued like that for the rest of the day, laying on the floor and listening to music. Every once in awhile they would talk about the songs, but the rest of the time was spent in comfortable silence with spooky songs playing. It was a relaxing and happy atmosphere and Sans had to struggle not to fall asleep.

            That was until a few hours later when they heard yelps and a small explosion. “That sounds like it’s coming from Undyne’s house,” Napstablook commented calmly. “Something’s always exploding over there. I wonder what it is this time?”

“probably spamgs.”

            “…what?”

            “doesn’t matter.” He anticipated an excited phonecall from Papyrus about how the ‘SPAMGS’ was a slightly-burned success and that Undyne would have to stay on their couch again because her house had burned down. Life was a constant adventure with those two.

             It was nice to do something calm for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really want to thank everyone that leaves comments, you have no idea how happy it makes me <3\. And geez almost 100 kudos I really didn't think this would get any attention at all aaaah


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus and Undyne are the Destruction Duo.

            It turned out SPAMGS was normal spaghetti with glitter mixed into the sauce and meatballs shaped like MTT-brand bombs. Sans had a sneaking suspicion they were actually explosive, a theory supported by the fact there was now a huge hole blasted in Undyne’s wall. Of course this meant that, once again, the captain of the royal guard had to crash on skeletons’ couch.

            Sans was currently on the floor with his laptop, leaning against the wall next to stairs in his house. He would be sitting on said couch, but it was upside-down in the snow outside. He didn’t know the details of what had happened, but with Papyrus and Undyne in the same house he wasn’t surprised. He just hoped they’d bring it back in eventually.

            Sans had his laptop’s browser open to a music-sharing forum. A very specific one. He and Napstablook had exchanged screennames on the Undernet before he left yesterday, so now he was going through all the music they had posted.(It wasn’t as if he couldn’t have guessed their screenname anyway. ‘Napstablook22’. A little obvious.) It turned out some of the songs had sounded familiar because they had been remixed posted everywhere across the Undernet. He wondered if Napstablook knew how many people used and appreciated their music. Maybe not.

            He clicked one that looked interesting and played it. This one was more high-energy with a quick beat that he absent-mindedly tapped his fingers to. _i wonder if i could play this on the trombone. probably. haven’t used it for much more than annoying paps lately._ The description that came along with it was, “I hope everyone likes this. If you see it. And want to listen. Comment if you like it. Or not, if you don’t want to. It’s not very good…” Sans very pointedly left a kind comment on it before the song was even finished. He frowned when he noticed it was the only comment, despite the fact he thought he’d seen the song used by someone else on a different site earlier.

            Undyne had been right. Napstablook seemed to need a lot of cheering up, or at least someone to assure them they were doing good. They deserved that. No one deserved to feel alone, or that nothing would ever work out, or-

            That line of thought was cut off when the Destruction Duo- aka Papyrus and Undyne- burst through the front door. Each of had one end of the couch and were attempting to push it back into the house. After a couple minutes of yelling and shoving, the couch was dropped back into place and the door was off its hinges on the floor. Sans sighed internally, but wasn’t that annoyed. After all, it wasn’t like he minded the cold. Or was ever going to fix it himself.

            “IT’S ALMOST TIME FOR THE MARATHON!”

            “And you get to watch it on a soggy couch. A reminder of who the real pillow-fight champion is around here.” Undyne thumped Papyrus on the side of the head. “Enjoy your MTT, nerd. I’m headin’ out. And, uh, make sure the couch dries out before I have to sleep on it. Second thought, I’ll just stay at the Inn tonight.”

            “YOU’RE NOT STAYING FOR THE MARATHON?? BUT WE MADE SUPER-PERFECT-AMAZING-MAGNIFICENT-GLITTER-SPAGHETTI!”

            “wasn’t it ‘awesome-magnificent’?” Sans piped up.

            Papyrus paused. “I DON’T RMEMEBER.”

            “I have better things to do than sit and watch you drool over that calculator. I’m gonna hang out with Alphys and watch REAL tv.” She clenched her fist in front of her. “ANIME.”

            “I DO NOT ‘DROOL OVER’ METTATON. DROOLING IS VERY GROSS.” Papyrus hesitated for a second, as wondering if he dared say what he was going to say next. “AND ANIME IS FOR VERY SMALL BABIES.”

            Undyne narrowed her eye at her friend. “That’s it.” And, in a blink, she had suplexed him. He recovered in just enough time to move out of the way of another such attack. “I told you I would hurt you next time you said that!”

            “woah, calm down, children,” Sans spoke up. “don’t you both have better things to do than destroy the house in a scuffle? cause, ya know, we don’t have anywhere to crash if you mess up this place too.” Well, they probably could just stay at the Inn, but Sans mostly just didn’t want to have to flee from more violence. He was comfortable where he was sitting.

            “Fine,” Undyne crossed her arms. “Watch your MTT stuff. I’m going to watch my shows WHICH ARE NOT FOR BABIES AND ARE VERY COOL.” She dashed out the opening where the door used to be. “One of these days I’m making you come watch anime with me and Alphys!” she shouted over her shoulder.

            “I’M SURE IT’LL BE A LOVELY EVENING!” Papyrus shouted after her. He spun around to face the rest of the house and clapped his hands, the sound muffled by his gloves. “RIGHT, NOW TO PREPARE!”

            In less than a minute, it seemed, Papyrus had located enough towels to cover the entire couch, retrieved the SPAMGS from the refrigerator, picked up Sans and set him on the couch, and flipped on the TV. Sans settled into his new spot without complaint, not even looking away from his screen. Papyrus sat forward on the edge of the couch, hands folded on front of him, staring at the screen in anticipation as commercials played.

            Nothing happened for quite a few minutes. Sans kept looking through the different posts Napstablook had made on the forum and Papyrus waited for the show to start. After awhile, Sans saw Papyrus lean back out of the corner of his eyesocket. “SANS, I WANTED TO TALK WITH YOU.”

            “yeah, bro?”

            “UNDYNE TELLS ME YOU WEREN’T AT YOUR POST AGAIN.”

            “that must be a real shock.”

            “IT WASN’T AT ALL,” Papyrus continued, either missing the sarcasm or ignoring it, “BUT SHE ALSO TOLD ME YOU WERE TRYING VERY HARD TO BEFRIEND HER NEIGHBOR.”

            “yeah?” Was everyone incredibly invested in his and Napstablook’s friendship?

            “THEN I REALIZED, THAT MUST BE WHY YOU GOT UP EARLIER AND HAVE BEEN SPENDING LESS TIME ASLEEP AT GRILLBY’S.” He turned on the couch to face Sans, who was now paying full attention. “I WORRY ABOUT YOU SOMETIMES, SANS, YOU HAVE VERY UNHEALTHY HABITS! BUT IT IS GOOD TO KNOW YOU ARE PUTTING THIS AMOUNT OF EFFORT INTO SOMETHING. EVEN IF IT ISN’T THAT MUCH.”

            Oh. He’d been worrying Papyrus. Guilt nawed at him for that, but he kept his ever-present smile on his face. “don’t need to worry about me, bro. i’m just a lazybones. but, um, thanks?”

            “I DO NEED TO WORRY, I AM YOUR BROTHER.” Papyrus waved a hand, “BUT ANYWAY, I FEEL I MUST ENCOURAGE ANYTHING YOU CARE THIS MUCH ABOUT. SO YES, CONTINUE TO BEFRIEND NAPSTABLOOK! THEY MUST BE A VERY SPECIAL MONSTER FOR YOU TO PUT THIS MUCH EFFORT INTO.”

            “aw man, a papyrus-approved friendship’s gotta be worth going after.”

            “OBVIOUSLY.” On the TV, the last commercial ended and the theme for one of Mettaton’s many shows started playing. Papyrus’s attention snapped back to the TV.

            Sans looked back down at his laptop’s screen. Was he really putting an abnormal amount of effort into this? He hadn’t seen the point in doing much of anything for awhile.

            _i guess i just feel like napsta’s worth the effort. or something._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I am having some bad writer's block but I managed to write this chapter so I hope it came out okay.  
> Also yes we are eventually going to have more Napstasans stuff but for now a short chapter where nothing really huge happens.  
> Sorry it took awhile. and as usual, thanks everyone who comments and leaves kudos you have no idea how happy it makes me <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smol anxious ghost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who updated again with a short chapter a month after the last update whoops

            _Why,_ Napstablook wondered, _is someone as cool as Sans wasting his time hanging out with me?_ The ghost was staring down at their phone, where a text from Sans inquired whether or not he could drop by today. Of course, in the two weeks since the skeleton has returned their cd player he had stopped by a few times. Mostly the two of them would listen to music and not talk much, and when they did talk it was mostly about the music itself or something silly Papyrus had done. The two of them had exchanged numbers, even though Sans’ phone was rarely on or charged, so he could warn the ghost when he might show up.

            Napstablook appreciated having time to prepare themself for talking to someone, but they just didn’t get it. Did Sans really like hanging out in this small, boring house with no chairs and nothing to do but listen to music? They didn’t even have any non-ghost food to offer him. They were so rude, weren’t they? Not coming up with something for him to eat when he came by.

            They stared around their barren house. It was boring. Nothing to entertain guests at all. They didn’t know why Sans liked hanging out here, but they guessed if he was going to they should get something for him to do.

            After all, maybe he wouldn’t keep coming back if there was nothing there for him. They weren’t sure if that was a good thing or not. They enjoyed his company, but he made them nervous. It would be less stressful for them if they could hide away and not have to worry about talking to Sans or anyone again.

Then they remembered watching him tell jokes through the door. The relaxed way he talked, the way his grin changed to an even cheesier one after a punchline, and his stupid jokes. No, they should try to keep him around. They couldn’t forgive themself if they offended him or bored him or anything.

            But the question became; how to entertain Sans? _What does he even like to do, other than sleep and tell jokes?_ They wondered. _Does he even like to do anything else? Oh gosh, he must like to do something. Read? Watch TV?_ They didn’t remember Sans ever mentioning any of his interests. Oh no. Napstablook must be a terrible friend, if they had no clue about any of Sans’ interests. That’s, like, the most basic thing you can know about someone. They should ask him what he likes when he shows up.

            Back to the food idea. That’s one thing they knew Sans liked, other than bad puns and avoiding work: food. What kind of food should they get? It’d be pointless to get food from Snowdin, since Sans probably that stuff all the time. Hotland was too expensive for them, and much too crowded. They would need a lot more time to psyche themself up before they could face the crowd of monsters that would be filling every store, beside the fact everything in Hotland was expensive and MTT-branded. They could get something from the spider bakesale, but to be honest that spider lady scared them to death ( _ehehehe, maybe I should tell Sans that one_ ). One time they had tried to buy a donut to show their support. The spider lady had somehow talked them into buying twenty and, lacking in money, they had made her a song in exchange. It was great that their music had value, but Muffet’s threatening eight-eyed stare when the ghost had claimed they couldn’t afford that much was not something they wanted to experience again. They also then had twenty donuts they couldn’t even eat, because they weren’t ghost donuts.

            Maybe something they could buy in Waterfall? They immediately dismissed the idea; the Temmies only sold temmie flakes, and Gerson only sold crab apples and sea tea. Temmie flakes were tasteless (or so they’d heard. Again, not ghost food.), just getting some tea and not any food sounded like a stupid idea, and crab apples seemed a little… cheap? They were more of a healthy snack, and that didn’t seem like the type of thing Sans would enjoy. So, they were stuck again.

            But wait, there are always the time-honored tradition of getting someone ice cream as a treat! Or, really, nice cream. Napstablook had never seen someone selling normal ice cream, but they had seen a rabbit monster in Snowdin selling ice cream bars with nice things written on the wrappers. Sure, Sans lived in Snowdin and probably ate nice cream all the time, but it was a nice treat he would probably appreciate either way.

            Right?

            Hopefully.

 

 

 

            After a quick run (or, rather, float) to Snowdin, about half an hour of hovering out of sight and practicing what they were going to say to the vendor, somehow still stumbling over their words when they finally mustered the confidence to talk to the vendor (“how much ice cream? oh, i meant… i meant how does it cost… oh no”), nearly dropping the nice cream twelve times as they lost focus (as demonstrated previously with the cd player, Napstablook tends to drop corporeal things a lot when they’re not focusing all their attention to being just solid enough to hold it), and a constant worried repetition in their mind of whether they were making a fool of themselves for doing this, Napstablook had the nice cream bars tucked safely away in their freezer. Having friends is hard.

            While they’re at it, they should probably buy a blanket or a pillow or something so the two of them have something to lay on other than the floor. Napsta had never worried about it before; ghosts didn’t really worry about back problems or being comfortable, since they don’t have backs and can’t really feel anything. But, that would have to wait. Until next time at least. Until then they floated in front of their computer and tried to psyche themself up for having company again.

Their notifications on their music sharing forum were full; apparently they had suddenly gotten a few comments from someone with the username ‘sans’. They giggled a little at how little thought or effort was put into that username, then checked what the comments said.

Oh jeez, they were really nice comments.

They sat and read the comments over and over again. Wow. The praise made them want to hide their face in a pillow and cry tears of joy. They saved screenshots of the comments, but didn’t respond. They didn’t know what to say, other thank ‘thank you so much’ over and over again, which was lame and probably wouldn’t be appreciated.

Napstablook really didn’t know why someone as cool as Sans wasted his time on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thank you so much for the kudos and nice comments, I mean geez over 150 kudos for this thing... (#^^#)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things happen, i guess

There was a sudden knocking and Napstablook let out a quiet, startled ‘eep!’. A glance at the clock told them it’s probably just Sans, arriving vaguely close to the time he was supposed to be there. Sans never gave a specific time, or arrived on time if he did.

“knock knock,” Sans called from the other side of the door.

“Who’s there?” Napstablook responded automatically.

“cash.”

“Cash who?”

“no thanks, i prefer peanuts.”

Napstablook giggled and pulled the door open. Sans grinned up at where they were floating as he strolled in, hands in pockets as always. He immediately flopped down on the floor and stared at the ceiling. Napstablook stayed floating near the door, wondering what they should say. They considered ‘What’s up?’, ‘Want to do anything?’, ‘Thanks for the nice comments.’, ‘Why are you even paying attention to me?’, and ‘What do you want to listen to?’. They decided either the first or last ones were the safest option.

Then their mouth betrayed them by saying something else entirely. “i got you some nice cream,” they blurted. Well, that sounded weird and pathetic.

Sans looked like he would be raising an eyebrow if he had one. “really?”

“oh, uh, yes. i did.” Napstablook drifted to the fridge door and pulled it open, revealing the interior. It was empty aside from the Nice Creams. “i thought i’d, um, get some solid food for you to eat when you’re here.”

“sweet, thanks.” Sans stood back up and examined the assortment of treats.

They reached into the freezer and moved them all around so all the different flavors were visible. “i got one of every flavor, i think. all that they had at the time. so, i hope you like them?” They were about to devolve into more ‘oh no’s and apologize for how awkward this was, but when they turned back around they found Sans smiling at them. Sans was always smiling, obviously, but it was easy to tell when his smile was more genuine. It wasn’t a ‘laughing at your expense’ or ‘im just humoring you’ smile, but kinder. He looked actually happy and not annoyed at their fumbling at all. He was staring and smiling and for some reason didn’t think they were a complete loser.

Napstablook calmed and handed him a vanilla and fudge Nice Cream. Sans kept on smiling, took it, and returned to his spot on the floor. Now Napstablook joined him. “Did you want to watch the tv or something? Do something more entertaining than just listen to my music…”

“hey, your music’s plenty entertaining,” Sans said seriously, though he we focused on opening the Nice Cream carefully so as not to destroy the message inside. “we can watch tv if you want, though.”

What kind of answer was that? Do they watch tv or not? Oh gosh, having friends can be hard. Napstablook thought for a second, then worried that their extended silence was making things awkward. They decisively flicked on the tv to the first MTT show that was on. “Oh, this one’s pretty good. It’s my fifth favorite of his shows.”

Sans shifted his position so he was facing the tv. “heh, papyrus likes this one too. didn’t know you were an mtt fan.”

“Well, I guess there was a pretty big chance of me being a fan of his, considering, he’s the only one ever on tv.”

“heh, true.”

“Oh, but I do think Mettaton is pretty cool,” Napstablook explained. “He always has so much confidence. And he can dance. And sing. I really like his musical shows. They remind me of when I used to play with my cousin.”

“your cousin?” Sans asked.

“Yes, Happstablook. Well, I had a lot of cousins, but they all moved out.” Napstablook frowned. The farm was a lot quieter nowadays. When was the last time they had even talked to a member of their family?

“is happstablook the one that owns the house next to yours?”

“Yes.” Napstablook turned back to the tv.

Sans finished unwrapping his nice cream and laughed at the wrapper. “there’s a spelling error in it,” he explained when Napsta looked curious. He turned the wrapper so they could see.

“Have a ‘nic’ day?” they asked, giggling.

“i hope you have a really nic day, naps,” Sans said seriously, then started laughing again. Napstablook couldn’t help but giggle more.

“Oh gosh, the nice cream man must be so embarrassed. I think he handwrites all these,” they said.

“nah, he’d find it funny too.” Sans makes a movement like he’s about to pat Napstablook on the back, then realizes they’re incorporeal. “one time i got a nice cream with the message ‘learn to laugh at yourself’. great advice, though i responded by laughing in a mirror in front of him.”

“I guess.” Both of their attentions were drawn to the tv as music started emanating from it. Mettaton was holding a microphone up to his screen and singing something about forbidden love as rose petals drifted down from the ceiling.

“so, why does this remind you of your cousin?” Sans asked.

Napstablook’s mind travelled back to when Happstablook was around. They smiled a little. “We would put on these silly little performances. They would set up a stage, get a broken microphone from the dump, and sing while I was dj. Our friend, Shyren, would backup sing. Sometimes we could talk our other cousins into helping out, but mostly they just ignored us or thought we were really weird. But I didn’t care, it was pretty fun.”

“sounds fun. where did happstablook go, if you don’t mind me asking? their house sure doesn’t look. well, lived in.”

“oh… they disappeared a few years ago. I don’t know why, they just didn’t come back. They left a note that they’d found a body to possess, but they didn’t say where they went.” Napstablook felt their eyes tearing up a bit and they looked down at the floor. “i really thought they’d stay after Madsta and Calmsta left… the snails miss them. there haven’t been any customers to keep them company recently either…”

Sans shifted very quickly and held a hand out to touch Napstablook before he seemed to remember they were incorporeal again. “oh, geez, uh, I didn’t mean to make you sad, bud.”

“oh no, i’m fine,” Napstablook floated up a bit and wiped away their tears.

Sans frowned with his eyes. He thought for a second, then said, “how about we go visit the snails? if they’re lonely, i can keep ‘em company.”

“oh, really? Do you want to meet them all?” Napstablook soul lightened; the snails were so sad lately with no one but them to talk to.

“sure. snails are cool.”

“Oh, great!” Napstablook flew towards the door. “You’re going to love Deucalion, he’s kinda weird but he loves weird foods and sleeps a lot.”

“heh. sounds nice.”

“… You mean, sounds ‘nic’.”

Napstablook really did like Sans’ laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: "Okay I need a name for a snail"  
> Sister: "Deucalion"  
> Me: "No."  
> Sister: "Deucalion"  
> Me: "I don't even watch Teen Wolf"  
> Sister: "Deucalion"  
> Me: "I'M NOT NAMING A SNAIL DEUCALION"  
> Sister: "DEUCALION"
> 
> So, whew! I don't update often, do I? But that should change, my friends, because now I'm on break and have the whole plot better outlined so I should be able to write faster now. So, look forward to more of this story. Hopefully with longer chapters too.


End file.
